Salamander Designs, Home Theater Furniture-Maker, A Chameleon In Changing Market

June 13, 2013|By MARA LEE maralee@courant.com, The Hartford Courant

BLOOMFIELD — Salvatore Carrabba was supposed to be a doctor. His father and grandfather were doctors. In the first few years after college, he was studying organic chemistry and physics so he could score well on the medical school entrance exams while managing his father's practice.

But in 1995, three years after he graduated from Skidmore with a business and sculpture double major, Carrabba turned what had started as a do-it-yourself solution for housing his own stereo system into a full-time business.

The open wooden bookcase had long threaded rods that held up the shelves. Some shelves had vents in them, to help air circulate around electronic components that run hot, and most importantly, the shelves had tiny neoprene washers that dampen vibration.

Today, although most of Salamander Designs' sales are high-end cabinets for home theaters, the original design is still available – at $199 for a stained hardwood two-shelf model.

Salamander sells most of its furniture — including leather recliners with cupholders — through specialty stereo shops and installers. The company has been buffeted by many industry upheavals. As Circuit City, Cambridge Soundworks and Tweeter Etc. closed their stores, it gave Salamander fewer outlets to get in front of customers.

Salamander sold a motorized wall mount for TVs through Circuit City, and in the two years before the chain closed, sales reached close to $15 million. In earlier years, a more typical annual revenue level was between $9 million and $10 million.

"People had towers of equipment," Carrabba said. Now, many of the urbane music lovers who make up the core clientele just listen to iTunes compressed files through a docking station for an iPhone or iPod.

The arrival of giant flat-screen TVs helped — you want a big cabinet to balance it out — but the pace of technical change is still a challenge.

Carrabba has developed strategies to keep the specialty furniture manufacturer relevant. The first line of cabinets had preforated steel doors to allow remote control infared to penetrate. When Salamander developed more high-design cabinets, he used infared repeaters to achieve the same effect.

"It has to do something besides just look good," Carraba said of the cabinets. They're also totally customizable. "It's like an erector set for adults. Lots of engineers are our customers."

A year ago, he borrowed $100,000 from the state Small Business Express program, and received a $250,000 grant, which has accelerated hiring. Carrabba is bringing some production processes in house that he used to contract to other companies, and he is hiring sales people as he expands into commercial sales for the first time, particularly for videoconferencing.

Salamander has 25 workers, which is up six from a year ago, though down about 15 from the peak in 2005. While he had to lay some people off, he also has several long-time employees. One manager worked his way up from a janitorial position, and has been with him 13 years. His wife Alessandra began working at Salamander back in 1998, when there were just a handful of employees.

Eric Heredia started April 15th on the assembly line. He had been working in a warehouse for the last two years, after his job installing kitchen cabinets evaporated in the recession.

"I love it," he said of his new job, which pays significantly better than the warehouse did. "They treat you good. It's a real team environment."

The same housing bust that put Heredia's cabinet employer out of business hit Salamander hard.

"In 2008, it was a big drop off. It was like somebody turned off the spigot," Carrabba said, with sales falling by 20 percent in just that year. Over the course of the recession, sales fell by almost half. Furniture sales are directly linked to home sales and additions.

In 2012, sales rose by 5 to 10 percent, Carrabba said, and he expects revenue this year between $7 and $8 million.

If he gets a foothold in commercial sales, he says he could easily add 25 workers over the next five years.

Elliot Matos, service manager at Hoffman Audi and Porsche, was one of the first commercial clients for Salamander, installing nine powered leather recliners in the waiting room in January. Some have trays so people can use laptops while they're waiting.

"It's just a much plusher environment," Matos said. He said it was clearly worth the investment, which Carrabba estimated at more than $25,000. "It's beautiful stuff, the customers love it, and they use it."